Filed-mapping and focal-spot tracking for s-SNOM

ABSTRACT

System and method for optical alignment of a near-field system, employing reiterative analysis of amplitude (irradiance) and phase maps of irradiated field obtained in back-scattered light while adjusting the system to arrive at field pattern indicative of and sensitive to a near-field optical wave produced by diffraction-limited irradiation of a tip of the near-field system. Demodulation of optical data representing such maps is carried out at different harmonics of probe-vibration frequency. Embodiments are operationally compatible with methodology of chemical nano-identification of sample utilizing normalized near-field spectroscopy, and may utilize suppression of background contribution to collected data based on judicious coordination of data acquisition with motion of the tip. Such coordination may be defined without knowledge of separation between the tip and sample. Computer program product with instructions effectuating the method and operation of the system.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation from the U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/119,283 now published as US 2017/0219621, whichrepresents the national stage entry of the International Application No.PCT/US2015/016157 filed on Feb. 17, 2015 and claims benefit of andpriority from the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/941,556filed on Feb. 19, 2014. The disclosure of each of the above-identifiedpatent applications is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to apertureless or scattering-typescanning near-field optical microscopy (commonly referred to as eithera-SNOM or s-SNOM) and, in particular, to a s-SNOM / AFM system andmethod structured for optimization of the optical alignment of thesystem based on characterization of quality of a focal spot of lightbeam illuminating a probe thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more fully understood by referring to thefollowing Detailed Description in conjunction with the (generallynot-to-scale) Drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an implementation of an s-SNOMsystem equipped with optical, positioning and control modules;

FIG. 2 is a simplified flowchart illustrating the use of thefield-mapping method in semi-automated fashion according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C show examples of two-dimensional field maps of anoptical field distribution at the system's cantilever tip acquired witha signal detection technique implemented according to an embodiment ofthe invention and employing signal-demodulation at the fundamentalharmonic (FIG. 3A), second harmonic (FIG. 3B); third harmonic (FIG. 3C)of the tapping frequency;

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C show examples of three-dimensional field maps of anoptical field distribution at the system's cantilever tip acquired witha signal detection technique implemented according to an embodiment ofthe invention and employing signal-demodulation at the fundamentalharmonic (FIG. 4A); second harmonic (FIG. 4B); third harmonic (FIG. 4C)of the tapping frequency;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained with an embodiment of the present inventionand with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the firstharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained with an embodiment of the present inventionand with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the secondharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained, under conditions differing from thosecorresponding to FIGS. 6A, 6B, with an embodiment of the presentinvention and with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at thesecond harmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained with an embodiment of the present inventionand with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the thirdharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained with an embodiment of the present inventionand with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the firstharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe; light scatteringoccurs primarily from the probe cantilever;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained with an embodiment of the present invention(and with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the firstharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe) after the spatialadjustment of the system 100 caused by the analysis of the patterns ofFIGS. 9A, 9B;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern obtained with an embodiment of the present inventionand with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the thirdharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern resulting from a zoom-in to the map of FIGS. 11A, 11B;

FIGS. 13A and 13B are images of the amplitude and phase portions of afield map pattern (obtained with an embodiment of the present inventionand with the use of demodulation of the optical signal at the firstharmonic of the frequency of vibration of the probe) containing apattern representative of interference of light scattered by multiplecomponent of the probe and the sample under test;

FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrates a zoom-in to the pattern of FIGS. 13A,13B;

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate the results of mapping the field of FIGS.14A, 14B after the focus-readjustment procedure carried out in relianceon the analysis of the pattern of FIGS. 14A, 14B;

FIGS. 16A and 16B show the amplitude and phase portions of the field mapobtained with the signal demodulation at the second harmonic of theprobe-vibration frequency across the 30-by-30 micron field, clearlydemonstration a central lobe 1610A and the emerging firs order lobe1610B of the amplitude Airy pattern;

FIG. 17A is a flow-chart of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17B is a flow-chart of a related embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM/SNOM) is known as amicroscopy technique for investigation on a spatial scale that overcomesthe far field resolution limit by exploiting the properties ofevanescent waves. The acquisition of an image with the use of a probe,positioned to oscillate at distances much smaller than the wavelength λof the illuminating light causes the resolution of the acquired image ofthe surface to be limited by the size of the probe and not by thewavelength of the illuminating light. Near-field optical microscopymodalities exist that can be operated in a non-aperture or aperturelessmode, also referred to as scattering-type SNOM or s-SNOM.

In s-SNOM, the probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM) is utilized forlocalized probing, in a close proximity for a surface under test (SUT),of elastic (Rayleigh) scattering of the electromagnetic radiation (forexample, light). The near-field in a gap between the tip and the samplecan polarize the probe, and therefore can be re-radiated (for example,scattered) into the far-field.

Since the near field is indicative of the optical properties of thesample and is tightly spatially confined due to its evanescent nature,the detection of the near-field component that has been back-scatteredinto the far-field can reveal optical and dielectric properties of thesample with high spatial resolution, and an s-SNOM modality can beoperated to obtain a spectroscopic map of the SUT at the nano-scale. Inone situation, for example, the spatial resolution of an s-SNOM systemcan be better than 20 nm.

Notably, apart from a weak, near-field-related radiation componentcorresponding to and formed by the light scattered only by the probetip, the illuminating light scattered by the probe additionally has astrong background component (which is due to back-scattering by theprobe and the SUT itself, as well as multiplelight-reflection-scattering contributed by these two elements). In orderto optimize the s-SNOM imaging quality, the near-field component ofinterest has to be detected and discriminated from the backgroundcontribution. Since for the AFM and s-SNOM imaging the probe is usuallyvibrated (for example, in tapping mode), the scattered illuminatinglight is also modulated at the frequency of the probe vibration. Thedemodulation at higher harmonics of tapping frequency may be employedfor rejection of the background component and the detection of thesought-after near-field component of the scattered light with a highsignal-to-noise ratio.

It becomes clear, therefore, that precise and tight focusing of theincident light on the probe apex/tip, as well as efficient collection oflight back-scattered by the probe tip, is of importance for the purposesof s-SNOM imaging. While the optimization of the focal spot based on thevisual perception of an AFM-system operator can be and is generallyemployed in the systems of related art, such optimization isunderstandably inefficient and often imprecise. Indeed, the focal spotof the tip-illuminating, signal beam of light may not be alwaysobservable in practice such as, for example, when infra-red (IR)radiation is used. Although an attempt is made often to compensate forsuch a shortcoming of the usage of the IR illuminating radiation in thes-SNOM system by employing an additional visible guide beam, a skilledartisan readily recognizes that the compensation of this sort is notparticularly reliable. For example, the lack of reliability andprecision of the usage of the visible guide beam can be caused byvarious reasons such as, for example, (i) the fact that the focal spotof the guide beam does not necessarily spatially coincide with the focalspot of the IR signal beam due to chromatic aberrations of the usedoptical system, and/or (ii) the imprecise alignment of the train ofoptical elements of the optical system, and/or (iii) the lack ofreliable ways to visualize the probe tip with an accessory opticalsystem.

As a result, and practically without exceptions, the focusing and/oralignment of the s-SNOM signal IR beam with respect to the probe tip (aswell as the optimization of collection of light back-scattered by theprobe tip) are conventionally performed in a manual, trial-and-errorfashion. That is, understandably, time-consuming and prone to unknownand non-repeatable errors. An example of a typical error that theconventional optimization routine may produce includes the lack of anoptimal alignment of a focused beam of light delivered from an opticalsource of the system (which, in the case of an s-SNOM system may be alight beam at mid-IR wavelength(s)) with respect to the tip. To addressthis shortcoming of the related art, at least one criterion of theoptimal alignment according to the present invention is satisfied when afocal spot of illuminating beam of light is substantially co-incidentwith and centered at the probe tip (which corresponds to the tip beingpositioned substantially in a focal plane of an optical portion of thesystem delivering the illuminating beam of light to the tip). At thispoint in optimization of the alignment of the system, magnitude of theelectromagnetic field incident on the tip is maximized and (otherparameters of the system being the same) the collection efficiency oflight back-scattered by the probe tip is most favorable for extractingthe desired optical data. In addition or alternatively, in a specificcase when the optics of the near-field system is refocusable (orzoomable), embodiments of the present invention may facilitate thefinding of a local and/or global—minimum of the size of the focal spotof the illuminating IR light at the tip.

It was empirically determined by the inventors that the operation ofcommercially available and research s-SNOM systems that there exists acorrelation between a practically-inconvenient and time-consuming manualprocess of optical alignment of a beam of light on the tip of thesystem's probe and a signal-to-noise ratio at which the aligned systemoperates. Such revelation identified a need in a system and methodoperable in a fashion of systematic optimization with respect to thealignment and focusing of the illuminating light on the probe tip of ans-SNOM system.

The idea of the invention stems from the realization that theconventionally reiterative and an operator-involved process of opticalalignment of the near field optical system (such as s-SNOM/AFM system,for example) can be realized with the minimal participation of theoperator (or, in some cases, even in a substantially operator-freefashion) by governing the optical alignment process driven by theresults of evaluation of specific optical characteristics ofspatially-complete or incomplete field-map(s) of a cantilever-tip. Thefield-map(s), required for evaluation of the identified opticalcharacteristics, were formed in light re-radiated by a system'scantilever tip in response to such tip being targeted with theprobe-illuminating beam. In a preferred implementation, that has beenachieved by deliberately and intentionally making the tip and the focalplane of a probe-illuminating light beam spatially coincide.

In one instance, the problem of finding the optimal optical alignmentbetween a mid-IR beam of light of the s-SNOM system and the cantilevertip, of the system's probe, that has been purposely illuminated withsuch beam is solved by determining such orientation and mutualpositioning of the focal spot of such beam and the tip at which thefocal spot coincides with and is centered at the tip (in which case thecantilever tip operates effectively as a point optical source or opticalantenna) by scanning and/or refocusing the tip-targeting illuminatingbeam of light across the tip. According to an embodiment of theinvention, while the process of the determination of the optimalalignment between the focal spot of the irradiating beam and the tip ofthe probe of the system can be effectuated while the irradiating beam ismodulated, it is appreciated that, in general, the method of theinvention does not require varying the power of the tip-illuminatingbeam. Moreover, in a specific implementation the optimal opticalalignment is achieved without (in absence of) the modulation of thepower of light incident onto the probe from the light source of thesystem. In this case, the method is devoid of varying the power of thetip-illuminating beam. In either case, it is notable that the method fordetermination of the optimal alignment—as well as the practicalimplementation of this method—is independent from and is not using anydata representing the mechanical response, thermal expansion,photo-thermal response of the sample under test that is (mechanically)sensed by the probe.

In the process of the determination of the mutual orientation andpositioning according to an embodiment, a complex-valued irradiancecharacteristic of the focal spot formed on the tip is being determinedas a function of the scanning and/or refocusing of the tip-illuminatingbeam. This can be carried out with (an optionally repositionable)single-area detector, on which light, recombined from light portionstraversing the reference and sample interferometric arms of the system,is converged with a use of a focusing element (such as a parabolicmirror, for example). A single-area detector may be a single-pixeldetector (with dimensions of about 100 micros squared to about 500microns squared), or a single-area detector with the area of up to 1mm². For optimal performance in signal-to-noise, the size of thedetector may be matched to the size of the beam focused on the detector.As a result, a field-map of the cantilever tip is populated withirradiance values representing a degree of confinement of the light beamon the tip of the probe (expressed, for example, as percentage ofincident light that is focused on the tip), as well as changes in suchdegree of confinement as a function of the spatial displacement and/orrefocusing of the illuminating beam with respect to the tip. It is alsonotable that, according to an embodiment of the invention, it is notnecessary to complete a given raster scan (and obtain a complete 2D mapof the field or a 3D volume set of such maps) but, instead, anembodiment of the invention may be effectuated by scanning one 2D sliceof a field and also sampling the field along several lines thatintersect the chosen slice (that is in a direction that is oblique ororthogonal to the slice). Alternatively, an embodiment may include only“sampling” the field along several intersecting lines in the slice(instead of carrying out a raster scan, to begin with), or/and samplingalong a dynamically formed spatial trajectory, if a gradient searchoptimization is used.

The initial solution (the process of determination and the formation offield-map(s)) can be defined based on data representing the light signal(returned to the detector by the tip) at a fundamental harmonic of thevibration frequency of the probe. In another related instance, theinitial solution to the problem is optionally additionally refined byconfiguring the process of determination of the mutual positioningbetween the focal spot of the irradiating light and the tip and theformation of field-map(s) at a higher (for example, the second and/orthe third) harmonic of the probe-vibration frequency.

Embodiments of a System and Method

A simplified schematic of a near-field apparatus (s-SNOM, for example),structured to operate in a field-mapping fashion according to anembodiment 100 of the invention, is shown in FIG. 1. Here, a cantileverprobe 110, in operable cooperation with the control circuitry 114 andused for profiling of a sample 118, is equipped with a tip 122. Theinteraction between the tip 122 and the sample 118 may be effectuated,for example, in a tapping mode (with the movements of the tip 122substantially along the z-axis, as shown), and/or be generally contact,non-contact, near contact, intermittent contact as understood by askilled artisan. In one implementation, a sensor system used to acquireoptical data associated with the cantilever probe 110 includes a sourceof light 126, which in operation emits a beam 130 of light at anoperational wavelength Such light is used for targeted illumination ofthe tip 122 through an optical system 134. The sensor system furtherincludes an optical detector 138 (that may be chosen to be very small,for example a single-pixel detector), which is interfaced with thecontrol-and-data-processing circuitry unit 142 (optionally equipped withtangible, non-transitory memory storage, not shown) and which receives aportion of the illuminating beam 130 that has been back-scattered and/orreflected from the tip 122. In an embodiment, the optical system 134contains a component that changes a degree of spatial divergence of thebeam 130 passing therethrough (such as, for example, a lens or a curvedmirror), focusing a portion of the beam 130 onto the tip 122. It isappreciated that some incident light may, when not spatially optimized,also illuminate a portion of the sample 118 in the vicinity of the tip122. Such parasitic illumination, while not intentional or purposeful,may be unavoidable depending on the specific parameters of the opticalsystem 134. At least one of the control circuitry 114 and the circuitryunit 142 may include a computer processor specifically programmed toperform system-governing and data-collecting and processing functionsdiscussed herein.

It is notable that according to one implementation, the sensor system isstructured to utilize the same beam of light 130 to acquire both opticaldata representative of a degree of alignment of the beam 130 withrespect to the tip 122 and/or that representative of a change in thespatial positioning of the cantilever probe 110 (for example, during thescanning of the sample 118 and without the need in and in absence of avisible guide-beam). The adjustments of the optical system 134, as aresult of which the alignment of the beam 130 on the tip 122 is carriedout, may include mutual lateral and/or angular repositioning between thebeam 130 and the optical system 134 (to adjust a direction from whichthe beam 130 is incident onto the tip 122). Such adjustments mayadditionally include a longitudinal (axial) repositioning of the system130 to (de)focus of the beam 130 with respect to the tip 122. Variousspatial adjustments are effectuated for example with a set ofmicro-positioners (schematically indicated with arrows 146 and havingsub-micron resolution, preferably on the order of 100 nm, even morepreferably less than 50 nm) that are controlled by the circuitry unit142 and, in particular, by the s-SNOM controller portion 142B of theunit 142. It is appreciated that in a specific case, the AMF controller114 and the s-SNOM controller portion 142B can be combined in the unit142. The range of translation of each micro-positioner along acorresponding axis is at least 100 microns, and preferably severalhundred microns. (A larger translational range of at least severalmillimeters may be employed for flexible operation of the system 100during the coarse alignment and for retraction of the focusing optics134. The capability of a fast translation with the speed of at leastseveral hundred microns per second is preferable for at least one axisof the positioner (the fast axis). For the purposes of this disclosure,the term “fast translation” refers to translation where the velocity ofthe translated element is higher than, for example, 50 microns persecond (and in one implementation equal to several hundreds of micronsper second). The “fast axis”(in a raster scan) is the axis that performsmotion within each line of the raster; the “slow axis” is an(orthogonal) axis that moves in increments from one line to another, ata rate that is lower than that corresponding to the fast axis, ascompared to motion from pixel to pixel within a line.

The beam 130, of light emitted by the optical source 126, is passedthrough a beamsplitter 150 that is configured as part of aninterferometric set-up (for example, a Michelson interferometer) suchthat a portion 130A of the beam 130 is further directed to the tip 122along a signal aim of the interferometric set-up, while another portion130B is deflected to a reference arm 154 defined, in one implementation,by a reflective element 158 such as a mirror that ismovable/repositionable along the beam 130B. (Alternatively or inaddition to moving the reflective element 158, another methodology ofvarying an optical length of the reference arm can be implemented. Forexample, the optical length of the reference arm can be modifiedelectro-optically, or thermo-optically, or acousto-optically, dependingon the properties of optical material disposed for such purpose in thereference arm across the light beam.) An auxiliary focusing element(such as a parabolic mirror; not shown) can be placed across a beam thatcombines light from the reference and sample arms of the system and thatthat is incident onto the detector 138 to converge such “combined” beamof light onto the detector's sensitive area. The detector acts as asquare-law (intensity) detector and produces voltage proportional to

E_(ref)E*_(sig)

, where E_(ref) and E_(sig) are optical fields in reference and signalarms, respectively. The detector 138 may be spatially-repositionable fora specific purpose of adjustment of the focusing of the beam from theinterferometer portion of the system onto the detector.

A specific embodiment of the system of the invention is configured to beoperated at power levels that are certainly not sufficient to result inany operationally undesirable change in the near-field signals, causedby expansion of a material due to increase in temperature and acting asa source of noise. The specific embodiment of the system operates wellbelow such levels. As alluded to above, in contradistinction with amethodology discussed in related art, the data representing expansion ofthe sample is not required to determine the near-field signal. In onespecific instance, the linear expansion of a dimension of the sample 118under the tip 122, caused by parasitic absorption of light 130A incidentonto the sample 118 in the vicinity of the light spot on the tip 122, isbelow 2 nm. In such non-limiting example, the operational value of thepeak power of the beam 130 of FIG. 1 may be below 20 mW with theresulting irradiance, at the tip 122 of about and/or less than 0.625mW/micron². The latter can be shown to cause a deflection force of lessthan 5 nN (experienced by the cantilever 110 when the focal spot of thebeam 130A is coincident with the tip 122.

According to embodiments, the complex-valued s-SNOM data (which may be,at the same time, multivariable in that it include complex-valuedamplitude/phase sets of data representing the results of demodulation ofthe detected signal at the 1^(st), 2^(nd), 3^(rd) harmonics of thefrequency of the probe vibration, and, optionally, the results of theDCSD measurements) can be obtained from the values of irradianceinterferometrically acquired at the detector 138 at different lengths ofthe reference arm 154. For example, both the amplitude and phase valuescan be calculated from two data sets taken, respectively, at two lengthsof the reference arm the difference between which is equal to aboutone-eighth of the operational wavelength λ (i.e., in a two-phasehomodyne mode). The optical path in the reference arm 154 can also bemodulated when the mirror 158 is repositioned in a periodic pattern(corresponding to, for example, sinusoidal wave, triangular wave, or acombination of pre-defined step functions). It is appreciated that theoptical path difference OPD between the reference arm 154 and the signalarm of the interferometric set-up is affected by the axial and/ortransverse repositioning of the focusing element 134, which isaccompanied by the change of the spot formed by the beam 130A on the tip122.

In one implementation, the probe 122 is vibrated, in operation, at afrequency Ω that is substantially close to its resonance and is held inoperational feedback in close proximity to the sample 118 by the AFMcontroller 114. Such AFM-type operation of the system 100 is referred toherein as “tapping mode” or “intermittent-contact mode”. The incidentlight 130B that has scattered from the tip apex (and, possibly, probeshaft, and sample under test) is collected, as light 162, by the sameoptics 134 and is further interferometrically recombined with thereference beam 130B. The resulting interferometric fringes form afar-field distribution of irradiance in a plane where the detector 138is located. (Interferometric recombination, as will be understood by askilled artisan, causes an interference phenomenon between waves beingrecombined and results in an interference pattern used to make accurateempirical determination of a parameter representing a physicalcharacteristic of at least one of the waves being recombined and/or themeasurement system involved.) The so-formed far-field irradiancedistribution, is sensitive to and depends on the near-field optical waveof the vicinity of the tip 122 and the sample 118, and includesradiation containing the information about such near-field optical wave.Alternatively or in addition, an optical field of the so-formedfar-field distribution of irradiance contains a component used toascertain the interaction between the tip 122 and the beam 130A incidentonto the tip 122.

As a result of scanning of the focusing element 134 the field-map orimage is being formed. The terms “field-map” and “image” as used hereinrefer, interchangeably, to an ordered representation of signals producedby an optical sensor (in one case—an optical detector) corresponding tospatial positions. For example, in case of a single-pixel detector,optical data acquisition is carried out in a raster scan mode, and thefield-map is formed by associating optical irradiance values withpoint-by-point spatial positions corresponding to the raster scan. Forexample, in reference to FIG. 1, a field-map may be an array of valueswithin an electronic memory (such as, for example a two-dimensionalarray 166 or a three-dimensional array 170), and/or a visual image orfield-map may be formed on a display device 174 such as a video screenor printer.

The output of the detector 138, caused by the acquisition of theirradiance pattern, is processed by a signal detection algorithmimplemented in the s-SNOM controller 142B with the use of, for example,specific program code containing appropriate instructions to thecontroller 142B. The signal detection algorithm is structured todetermine the strength of the near-field-related component of thebackscattered light 162. Additionally, the phase of this light component162 (with respect to that of the reference beam light returned towardsthe detector 138) is determined. Examples of such signal detectionmethod are provided by a lock-in demodulation procedure at harmonics oftapping/vibration frequency Ω (2Ω, 3Ω, . . . ), a Fourier analysisdetermining these harmonics, and/or an alternative technique devised toachieve the specified goal. For example, the relative phase of light inthe reference arm 154 can be modulated by oscillating a position of themirror 158 with a piezoelement at a chosen frequency (for example, fromabout 100 Hz to about 2 kHz) and with a chosen peak-to-peak amplitude(for example, within a range from a portion of a wavelength to anamplitude exceeding one wavelength such as, in one specific example,from about one-eighth of a wavelength to about one-quarter of awavelength). The effect of such modulation on the second-harmonic (2Ω)component is detected with another lock-in amplifier operating at thefrequency equal to the frequency of modulation of a mirror-position, incomparison with methodology discussed by Stebounova et al. in“Enhancement of the weak scattered signal in apertureless near-fieldscanning infrared microscopy”, Rev, Sci, Instr., v. 74, no. 8, 2003.

It is appreciated, therefore, that at least a one-dimensional (1D) or,more generally, multi-dimensional scanning (such as two-dimensional, 2D,raster scanning optionally combined with the refocusing) of the opticalsystem of an embodiment of the invention leads to acquisition, analysis,and/or visualization of 2D and 3D data arrays representing spatialdistribution(s) of the optical field in the focal plane at least in partcaused by the tip 122 of the cantilever of the s-SNOM system. Adirection of scanning of the optical system with the use of thepositioners 146 can generally follow an arbitrary trajectory (whether 2Dor 3D), while the scan resolution, defined by the spatial increment(s)of such repositioning, may be generally non-uniform and/or changeableduring the scanning procedure. For example, as mentioned above, one 2Dslice can be scanned, complemented by sampling of the signal alongseveral lines that intersect such slice. Alternatively, the field couldbe sampled along several intersecting lines in the slice (instead ofperforming a raster scan), or sampled along a dynamically-formed spatialtrajectory if a gradient search optimization is used (providing theoptimization along the shortest path). Depending of the specificimplementation of the invention, the field-mapping procedure can beautomated in part (semi-automated) or substantially fully-automated.During the automated portion of the procedure, a number of slices can bescanned, local maxima of the signal can be found, and (optionallyannotated) image(s) can be presented to the user. During the followingmanual portion of the procedure, the user selects a position on top ofone of the local maxima (for example by double-clicking on the image).

According to one embodiment, and generally independent from the degreeof automatization of the procedure, a flow of the field-mappingprocedure can include the acquisition of image(s), of the focal spot ofthe illuminating beam of light at the tip 122, at different harmonics ofthe tapping/vibration frequency of the probe. It is recognized that theoptical signal returned towards the detector at the first harmonic ofthe probe-vibration frequency is usually the strongest (containssignificant background contribution), while the components of the signaldemodulated at the second and/or higher harmonics of the tappingfrequency are weaker and are characterizing by progressively increasingratio of near-field vs. background contribution). Accordingly, an imageof the near-field optical irradiance distribution can be formed with theuse of the demodulation at the first harmonic of the frequency Ω atwhich the probe is vibrated. The beam 162, which includes lightback-scattered by the probe (and sample under the probe), is collectedby the lens 134. The collected light has components or portions that aremodulated by the vibration of the probe (and an unmodulated component,mostly background). A skilled artisan would appreciate that, among themodulated components of the beam 162, the component modulated at thefundamental frequency Ω includes not only a component containing purelysought after information about the near-field optical wave returned bythe tip 122, but also a strong background component. The latter mayresult from the scattering of the illuminating light 130A by the otherareas of the probe 110 (and, possibly, the sample 118) and with whichsuch pure tip-related near-file optical wave is convoluted. Thecomponents of the collected light extracted at the 2^(nd) and higherharmonic are progressively weaker but have a higher ratio of near-fieldvs. background information contribution.

In reference to the schematic flow-chart of FIG. 2 and in furtherreference to FIG. 1, at step 210 the parameters of the field-mappingprocess of the invention are being set-up by defining, in part, aspatial range of mapping (for example, by the spatial extent of a rasterscan of 50 by 100 microns slice, and 20 slices with 10 micron spacingtherebetween) , a spatial offset of the spatial range (spatialcoordinates of each slice with respect to the origin of the positioned,and the central slice position along the optical axis), as well as afrequency range at which the mapping output will be determined. A dataframe (or set of data) characterizing the distribution of the opticalfield a the focal spot of the tip-illuminating beam within the specifiedspatial range of mapping is acquired, as a result of scanning 220, withthe system of the invention such as the embodiment 100 of FIG. 1, atstep 224 to create a 2D field-map 228 with the use of the circuitry unit142 of FIG. 1.

Optionally, at step 232, a spatial position of the maximum of theirradiance distribution across the acquired field-map 228 is beingdetermined (whether manually or automatically) and stored in a tangiblestorage memory unit in association with the number of the current dataframe corresponding to the current field-map 228.

The re-centering of the current field-map is followed, at step 236, byspatial re-adjustment of the optical system 134 with respect to the tip122 (which may include refocusing of the system 134 according to theset-up parameters defined at step 210) and the acquisition of the nextdata frame/field-map (re-iteratively, at steps 220, 224) to obtain a mapin which the maximum, determined at step 232, is positioned in thecentral portion of the map. Optionally, for each of the acquiredfield-maps, a position of the current maximum of the irradiancedistribution is compared with and/or marked with respect to thecorresponding position of the maximum in the previously-acquiredfield-map. A stack of field-maps, in the form of a 3D image of theirradiance distribution corresponding to a focal spot of the beam oflight on the tip 122, can be also created with the purpose ofcharacterizing the distribution of irradiance in 3D, and finding the“waist” of the focused light beam.

As a result of the field-mapping process, the optical data representingcomplex-valued physical parameters is acquired, which containsinformation useful for optimized alignment of the probe tip 122 and theilluminating beam 130A and coded in both amplitude and phase.Accordingly, visually-perceivable representations of field-map images inboth amplitude, (or irradiance) and phase may be employed to facilitatethe analysis of light-scattering patterns in search for the optimalfocus of the beam 130A. For example, as would be understood by a personof ordinary skill in the art, as the optical system is being adjustedand aligned to more and more confine the illuminating beam 130A on thesurface of the tip 122, the reiteratively-acquired field-maps reflectimprovements in such confinement by displaying irradiance patternsconverging to an irradiance pattern corresponding to a diffractionlimited pattern and, in particular, to at least a central lobe of theairy-pattern (formed by scattering of the beam 130A at its focal pointby the tip 122 of the probe 110, which is the ought after opticalsignal). Such irradiance images display characteristics of anAiry-disk-like pattern, and at least for that reason can bedistinguished from other irradiance patterns of light-scattering (suchas patterns produced by scattering of the incident beam 130A on anelongated object—a cantilever of the probe, for example, which wouldcorrespond to a sub-optimal optical alignment situation when thebackground optical component of the returned beam 162 is sufficientlystrong).

In other words, the progress in spatial alignment between theilluminating beam 130A and the tip 122 is achieved by discriminatingbetween the field-maps the amplitude portions of which containscharacteristics of an Airy-disk pattern and those that do not, andcausing the optical system to align in a direction that results in awell-defined Airy-disk-pattern-like amplitude portion of a field map. Insome cases, the circular pattern of an Airy-disk like field map may bemore pronounced in a phase portion of the field-map while being not asnoticeable in the amplitude channel. Therefore, the properoptical-system-tip orientation procedure may include the analysis ofboth amplitude and phase field maps to find the optimal position of thefocus of the beam 130A on the tip 122.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C show examples of 2D field-mapsprocured with an embodiment of the field-mapping procedure as discussedand displayed as irradiance distribution maps at the display device174). FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C provide 3D renderings of the 2D field maps ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C. IN particular, a field-map acquired at the fundamentalharmonic of Ω (shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A) corresponds to an irradiancepattern with multiple local maxima, while field-maps acquired at secondor third harmonics of Ω (shown, respectively, in FIGS. 3B, 4B and 3C,4C) demonstrate pronounced Airy-pattern representations of the opticalfield on the tip 122 as the optical alignment of the system 100 isiteratively improved.

According to one implementation of the invention, a field mappingprocedure, whether semi- and fully-automated, can be structuredaccording to a hierarchical sequence (a sequence of multilevel, gradualrefinement procedure) by applying different signal detection schemes(which may vary in sensitivity and specificity to the near-fieldcomponent) at each level of the hierarchy. For example, the s-SNOM datarepresenting scattered light intensity that is stronger and more readilydetectable with the use of the demodulation at the fundamental frequencyΩ above the noise level (˜high SNR) but that is contaminated withbackground contribution (and is, for that reason, less specific to orrepresentative of the south after near-field component corresponding tolight scatter by the tip itself) can be used for a large-range scanand/or search, that is, while the coarse spatial alignment and/orfocusing is in progress. Due to background interference, field mapsformed at this 1st level of hierarchy can reveal several local maximaand patterns that are substantially different from an Airy disk-likepattern. Field-mapping-based identification of the optimal alignment ofthe system can be further refined for these local maxima at thefollowing, higher levels of the procedural hierarchy, to distinguish theoptimal alignment from false results. Such further levels of thehierarchy can use signal detection that is more specific to thenear-field component and has better rejection of the background, e.g.,demodulation at 2nd, 3rd, or higher harmonic.

In a semi-automated mode, for example, when a field map displayed on thedevice 174 presents a pattern with one or several local maxima (see, forexample, images of FIGS. 3A, 4A), an actions is taken by an operator tore-center the scan area on the chosen point of the field map with theuse of program code used to program at least a portion of the circuitryunit 142 of FIG. 1. Such re-centering can be effectuated by, forexample, identifying an image pixel of the field-map of FIG. 3A thatcorresponds to such image point of choice with a computer pointingdevice (such as a mouse, for example) and zooming into or zooming out ofthe scan range by drawing a box-like borders around the chosen area ofthe displayed image. Accordingly, an operator is provided with theopportunity to perform the necessary adjustments by using field-mapframes as a visual feedback or a characteristic pattern for thediagnostics of the system of the invention. Based on the field-mapappearance, the operator can detect and correct alignment problems inreal-time. This procedure is starkly contradistinctive to the proceduresemployed to-date in the art, according to which the manual alignment ofthe s-SNOM system is governed by the continuous readout of thedetector's output (and maximization thereof) , and where 2D and/or 3Drepresentations of the irradiance distribution are not acquired and notpresented for the analysis of the pattern.

When various parameters of the optical setup (such as collimation of thelaser beam on the tip 122, alignment of the beam splitter 150, angularalignment of the focusing lens 134 with respect to the beam 130A) arebeing adjusted, it may be desired to acquire and display field-mapscontinuously and continually to allow the operator to observe thepattern changes as a function of the alignment procedure in real time.In addition, the computer-assisted tracking of the “hot spot” (a chosenmaximum in the signal) may be employed to perform an automatic field-mapcentering and automatic control of the scan range. The field maps(optionally, auto- centered and auto-ranged) are displayed to theoperator, who can use them as visual guidance while he/she adjusts thealignment of the optical system elements that are not necessarilymotorized (some other elements that are not shown in FIG. 1). Thefocusing element 134 is motorized with positioner 146, so afully-automated procedure that involves the final alignment and focusingof 134 can proceed without operator's input and without displaying mapsas a visual feedback.

In a different situation, a fully-automated procedure can be employed asan embodiment of a method of the invention. Such algorithm is configuredto conduct automatic search of the optimal targeted focusing of theilluminating beam on the tip 122 of the system of FIG. 1 by employingvarious spatial sampling/scanning trajectories and efficientoptimization techniques known in the related art. For the optimizationtask at hand, where a 3D position of the focusing element 134 of FIG. 1constitutes three independent variables, the function value is relatedto a (complex-valued) measurement data at such 3D position andminimization of time required to achieve the optimization of thealignment of the beam 130A with respect to the tip 122. Thetime-efficiency of an automated optimization procedure is determined bythe total number of sampled positions, the trajectory that traversesthese positions, and the speed of motion along this trajectory. (Theoptimization algorithm determines the multiplicity of spatial positions:the positions of the maximum of a function F(x,y,z), where F is thesignal and x,y,z are spatial variables. An optimization procedureiteratively determines a multiplicity of function arguments {x,y,z}based on function values at previous steps/positions, eitherdeterministically (e.g., gradient search) or with stochastic elements(some randomization).

The important distinction of a field-mapping optimization algorithmaccording to the invention from a generic computational optimizationalgorithm stems from the emphasis on optimization of the traveltrajectory and minimization of the travel path that connects the sampledpositions of the focusing element 134. Although a method forfield-mapping optimization utilizes traditional some of the developedoptimization approaches, additional heuristics and/or path selectionstrategies are introduced in order not only to keep the number ofspatial sampling points as low as possible, but also to allow for fasttransition between such sampling points. In contradistinction withembodiments of the invention, in generic, conventional computationaloptimization problems used in related art the functionevaluation/computation is usually expensive and, therefore the totalnumber of evaluations/samplings is sought to be as low as possible; atthe same time, however, the relative position of and/or the distancebetween sampling points in the variable space is usually not a concernand a transition from one value of independent variable to another is acost-free operation.

In one implementation, a direct alignment-optimization approach can berealized by performing a raster 2D or 3D scan with resolution andsampling of the scattered light irradiance at each position of theraster scan that are sufficient for spatially resolving thewavelength-dependent field pattern in the focus spot. Such scan orraster s followed by the determination of the global optimum and/or anumber of local maxima (with the use of, for example, a Quicksortalgorithm; or Hough transform). If the scanning of the chosen spatialregion is carried out at high speed and/or the region to be mapped isnot too large, then such “brute-force” optimization can be efficientlycompleted in a reasonably short time. In addition, data from a 2D fieldmap or 3D volume/stack of maps can be stored and analyzed for signalpatterns, which can provide useful diagnostic information andcharacterize the s-SNOM scattering quality of the probe. On the otherhand, if the time required for a detailed 3D or 2D raster scan of alarge region to be mapped is operationally prohibitive, then a coarseraster scan at a decreased spatial resolution (resulting in a reducednumber of sample data points) can be used instead as a pilot scan forfinding a good initial starting point used for a more sophisticatedoptimization algorithm. The time required for a coarse probing of thefield at the chosen area will be primarily determined by the mechanicalcapabilities of the positioner (a mechanical motion factor) and, to alesser degree, by the speed of signal acquisition (an “integration timeconstant”). Therefore, a coarse probing of the field can be performedmuch faster (full speed) than a detailed scan of the same region ofspace (slow down for data acquisition).

In a related implementation, and optionally as an alternative to thedirect optimization approach (and, preferably, for use with anembodiment employing a fast automated alignment procedure), a uniformraster scan can be replaced with a search trajectory across the spatialrange of mapping (that has been defined at step 210 of the method of theinvention). This trajectory is chosen to efficiently assess the requirednumber of sampled positions (i.e., function evaluations) and the traveltime/path length connecting these positions to minimize these values. Indevising the required search trajectory, the next position or positionsof the focusing element 134 is/are determined dynamically based on thevalue(s) of complex-valued measurement data acquired at previousposition(s) of the focusing element 134. (As compared with the directapproach, which samples the signal/function at all grid points in araster scan/volume, and then determines the maxima from thedataset/image, the dynamic method determines a point in the samplingtrajectory based on signal/function values at previous locations andcontrary to static, predefined positions in a raster scan of the directmethod.) In this context, an embodiment of the alignment-optimizationalgorithm provides a recipe of how the following positions aredetermined and the condition when the search is deemed completed orabandoned (based, for example, on a pre-defined convergence or exitcriterion). An algorithm can be structured to define the followingposition(s) of the focusing element in a deterministic fashion or astochastic fashion. For example, an algorithm of the invention accordingto which a following position of the focusing element is determinedbased on its previous position(s) can be structured to use previouslyobtained measurement data points to evaluate spatial derivatives of thecomplex-valued data (first derivatives to form a gradient vector, secondderivatives to form a Hessian matrix). Such algorithm is furtherreferred herein as a derivative-based algorithm. Alternatively, analgorithm can be structured to operate without the use of derivativeinformation (a derivative-free algorithm).

An example of deterministic derivative-based algorithm that can be usedwith the described procedure is the Steepest Descent/Gradient Descentmethod described, for example, in “Numerical Recipes” by Press et al.For complex-valued optical signals acquired according to thefield-mapping method of the invention, the optimization target may bedefined as the finding of the extremum of the amplitude of the opticalsignal at the detector 138, while phase information corresponding tosuch signal can provide additional constraints such as smoothness and/orcontinuity of transition between the immediately neighboring spatialpositions of the focusing element 134. (Understandably, either themaximization or minimization procedure can be used for this purpose.Similarly, “descent” and “ascent” terms in determining the steepestchange of the chosen trajectory can be interchanged for minimization andmaximization tasks, respectively. Further use of terminology appropriatefor minimization tasks, which is generally accepted in the optimizationfield and literature, implies that a correct meaning with respect tomaximization/minimization can be easily inferred.) In the context of thefield-mapping process of the invention, the Gradient Descent automatedprocedure iteratively estimates the gradient vector from several localmeasurements of the strength of the optical signal, and then, with theuse of the circuitry unit 142, activates a positioner 146 to effectuatea movement of the optical element 134 in the direction associated withand defined by the gradient vector. The estimation of the gradientrequires the positioner 146 to perform several small displacements ofthe element 134 in orthogonal directions (in 2D or 3D), while thenumerical differentiation of optical signal values acquired at thedetector 138 and associated with such displacements provide input datato the estimate the gradient of a change of the acquired optical data.The size of the gradient descent step can be adaptive in order tominimize noise-induced random walk and backtracking, and fulfill thegoal of minimizing the total path length. For example, a heuristicprocedure can adaptively select the step size based on gradientstrength, signal magnitude, and the signal to noise ratio. Adaptive stepsize selection procedure can be based on approaches known in the art,including but not restricted to Trust region methods, Neural Network andBackpropagation training, Barzilai and Borwein's approach, for example.

An example of a stochastic derivative-free algorithm is provided by theSimulated Annealing process (see “Numerical Recipes” by Press et al.).In the Simulated Annealing approach, a transition into a next state (forexample, to the next position in the variable space) is performedrandomly (described as a random walk in a state space), whileprobabilities of transitions are updated based on available outputfunction evaluations. While Simulated Annealing can perform downhillsteps similarly to the Gradient Descent, it can also walk against (in adirection opposite to that defined by) a weak gradient, whichfacilitates the ability of the algorithm to avoid providing a falsesolution that is “trapped” in a region associated with false noisy localextrema. For the field-mapping procedure of the invention, the chosenalgorithm must be modified with additional heuristic in order tominimize the total length of the random walk path. Such algorithm can bebased on approaches known in the art, including but not restricted toAdaptive Simulated Annealing, thermodynamic simulated annealing, VeryFast Simulated Reannealing, for example.

In one embodiment of an automated field-mapping method, the optimizationalgorithm is a specialized variant of a trust region optimizationprocedure. For example, one embodiment may combine the trust regionalgorithm NEWUOA, (“New Unconstrained Optimization Algorithm” developedby J.D. Powell, known in the art) with Dijkstra's shortest path searchalgorithm, which is embedded in each iteration of the NEWUOA. In eachiteration, the NEWUOA algorithm fits a quadratic model using M=2*N+1function evaluations (2D: N=2, M=5 positions; 3D: N=3, M=7 positions),and Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm is used to find the shortesttrajectory connecting these M points where the signal is measured. Thequadratic model is used to predict the position of the optimum, and newM points are selected (within a trust region, therefore not allowingjumps that are too far along the quadratic model's surface, contrary toNewton's optimization method) for next iteration. Iterations of NEWUOAtrust region quadratic model fitting with Dijkstra's shortest pathplanning are repeated until the convergence criterion is satisfied. TheNEWUOA algorithm provides a very conservative approach with respect tothe number of function evaluations/sampling positions, and Dijkstra'salgorithm minimizes the length of travel trajectory between samplingpositions. As a result, the preferred embodiment algorithm is capable ofachieving efficient and fast results in automated field-mappingprocedure.

Examples of Field Maps Empirically Obtained with the Use of anEmbodiment

FIGS. 5 through 16 present examples of field maps acquired with the useof an embodiment of the present invention.

The amplitude field map of FIG. 5A and the phase field map of FIG. 5Bwere obtained with demodulation of the optical signal 162 at the 1^(st)harmonic (fundamental frequency) of the frequency of the vibration ofthe probe 100; the probe was held in feedback and engaged to a surfaceof the sample 118. The Amplitude image of FIG. 5A shows several localmaxima. The Phase image of FIG. 5B exhibits a pattern with a non-trivialsuperposition of fringes, where no single distinct point source can bediscerned from a concentric pattern. From these data, a skilled artisandiscerns that 1) the contribution of background field at 1^(st) harmonicconceals the near-field coupled field pattern representing a lobe of anAiry disk and that 2) the 1^(st) harmonic signal is stronger thansignals obtained due to demodulation at higher harmonics of the probevibration frequency and, for that reason alone, can be used for initialalignment of the set-up 100. FIGS. 5A, 5B also show that 3) Phase mapinformation is complimentary to the Amplitude field map, but at 1^(st)harmonic the Phase map does not contain a clear pattern of concentricfringes, and therefore is not likely to facilitate the location of thefocal spot of the beam 130A on the tip 122.

Example of a field map obtained by demodulating the optical signal(received in back-scattered of light 130A from the probe 110 by thedetector 138) at the 2^(nd) harmonic of the probe vibration frequency inFIGS. 6A, 6B. Here, the optical data was acquired while the probe 110was held in proximity to a sample surface but not in feedback, that is,not sufficiently close for the near-field coupling between the tip 122and the sample 118. The Amplitude portion of the field map. Shown inFIG. 6A, illustrates several local maxima 610A, 610B, 610C. The Phaseportion of the field map of FIG. 6B shows subtle fringes (encircled as620) in the center, where no single distinct point source can bediscerned from a concentric pattern. The example in these Figuresillustrates illustrate that 1) the contribution of background field(that is, an optical signal not related to the near-field) at the 2^(nd)harmonic of the probe-vibration frequency, while present, is smallercompared to that at the 1^(st) harmonic of the probe-vibration frequencyshown in FIG. 5A; 2) the amplitude portion of the field map obtained atthe 2^(nd) harmonic of the probe-vibration frequency can exhibit severallocal maxima; and that, 3) while the Phase map information iscomplimentary to the Amplitude field map, at the 2^(nd) harmonic of theprobe-vibration frequency and in absence of near-field effect, the Phasefield map does not necessarily contain a clear pattern of concentricfringes, and therefore still does not facilitate locating the focal spotof the beam 130A.

Example of a field map obtained with demodulation of the acquiredoptical signal at the 2^(nd) harmonic of the frequency of the vibrationof the probe (which probe was held in feedback and engaged to a samplesurface, that is, located sufficiently close to the sample surface forthe near-field coupling between the tip and sample to occur) is shown inFIGS. 7A and 7B (amplitude and phase portions, respectively). TheAmplitude image of FIG. 7A shows one distinct maximum 710, which isinterpreted a center of the Airy pattern. The Phase image of FIG. 7Bshows fringes (encircled as 720 in the center of the image) with adistinct concentric pattern. This example illustrates that 1) thecontribution of background field (shown in FIG. 6A) to the opticalsignal acquired at the 2^(nd) harmonic of the probe-vibration frequencyis much smaller compared to the near-field contribution; that 2) the2^(nd) harmonic Amplitude map can exhibit one strong local maximumwithout readily observable side-lobes, while the center of the Airypattern may be not easily identifiable; and that 3) the Phase mapinformation is complimentary to the Amplitude field map, and, at the2^(nd) harmonic of the probe-vibration frequency and in presence ofnear-field effect, the phase portion of the field-map contains a clearpattern of concentric fringes, which allows for the unambiguouslocalization of the focal spot of the beam 130A.

Amplitude and phase portions of a field map shown in FIGS. 8A, 8B,respectively, demonstrate the results of the demodulation of theacquired optical signal at the 3^(rd) harmonic of the probe vibrationfrequency. Here, the probe was held in feedback and engaged to a samplesurface, that is, sufficiently close for the near-field coupling betweentip and sample. The Amplitude image of FIG. 8A shows one distinctmaximum 810. The Phase image of FIG. 8B shows fringes 820 in the centerof the image with a distinct concentric pattern (that is distorted,stretched in vertical direction of the image). These results illustratethat 1) the contribution of background field at the 3^(rd) harmonic ofthe probe vibration is small compared to the near-field contributionshown in FIG. 5A, and therefore only one local maximum is present inFIG. 8A; that 2) the side-lobes of the Airy pattern of the Amplitude mapprocured at the 3rd harmonic of the probe vibration may not be readilyobservable, and the center of the Airy pattern may be not easilyidentifiable; that 3) the Phase map information is complimentary to theAmplitude field map, and, at the 3^(rd) harmonic of the probe-vibrationfrequency and in presence of the near-field effect, the phase portion ofthe field map contains a clear pattern of concentric fringes, which,together with the amplitude map of FIG. 8A, allows for locatingunambiguously the center of the focal spot of the beam 130A.

Empirical results procured with an embodiment of the invention areillustrated in FIGS. 9A, 9B. Here, a map of 100-by-100 micron field isshown, obtained by demodulating the acquired optical signal at the1^(st) harmonic (fundamental) of the probe vibration frequency. Duringthe acquisition, the probe was held in feedback and engaged to a samplesurface. The Amplitude portion of the field map exhibits two elongatedmaxima 910A, 910B that can be explained by light being incident at andbackscattered by the sides of the cantilever. The Phase image of FIG. 9Bshows two sets of elongated parallel fringes, from which no singledistinct point source is likely to be discerned. The example in theseFigures illustrates that 1) probing the field by a point-like scatteringsource (that is, by the tip coupled to a sample in near-field), isessential for accurate mapping of the field at the focus of theilluminating light beam, whereas probing with a scattering object offinite linear dimensions (such elongated cantilever) does not representthe true spatial distribution of the focused optical field; that 2) thepresence of elongated features in field maps at the 1^(st) (or, for thatmatter, higher harmonics) reveals outlines of a cantilevered probe, andtherefore can be useful for initial crude alignment of the focused beamon the probe tip; and that 3) Phase map information is complimentary tothe Amplitude field map, and may contain a pattern of elongated parallelfringes when the focused beam is not well aligned to the point-likescattering object such as the tip.

Additional insight can be gained from the empirical results of:

FIGS. 10A and 10B, showing respectively the amplitude and phase portionsof the map of a 100×100 micron field obtained by demodulating theacquired optical signal at the second harmonic of the probe-vibrationfrequency. Both the amplitude and phase images show scattering 1010A,1010B, 1020A, 1020B from an elongated object (cantilever of the probe,in this instance); scattering from the tip122 can be identified as1010C, 1020C in the center-bottom part. It is notable that that linearfringes from cantilever in the phase image are less pronounced (incomparison with those of FIG. 9B); and that light-scattering from thetip 122 produces circular fringes 1020C. In the amplitude image of FIG.10A, the tip scattering signal still produces a local, not the global1010C maximum, but the local maximum 1010C is more pronounced.

FIGS. 11A, 11B and 12A, 12B illustrate the map of a 100-by 100 micronfield and the zoom-in to an area of 50-by-50 micron of that field,respectively. Here, the map is acquired under the conditions of themeasurement corresponding to FIGS. 10A, 10B but the acquired opticalsignal was demodulated at the third harmonic of the probe-vibrationfrequency. Amplitude and phase images no longer exhibit scattering fromelongated object (the cantilever of the probe 110), while scatteringfrom the tip 122 is clearly visible in the amplitude image as a globalmaximum 1110. Having zoomed into a smaller portion of the images ofFIGS. 11A, 11B, one could recognize that the phase portion of the fieldmap, shown in FIGS. 11B, 12B, also exhibits a weak pattern 1120.

FIGS. 13A, 13B illustrate a field map of a 100-by-100 micron region,obtained as a results of the demodulation of the acquired optical signalat the 1st harmonic of the probe-vibration frequency. Here, both theamplitude and phase portions of the map (FIGS. 13A, 13B, respectively)unveil a complicated pattern with interference of light scattered bymultiple elements (cantilever, probe shaft, multiple reflections fromsurface and probe). Although the sought-after scattering from thepoint-source (tip 122 of the probe 110) is not noticeable, a concentricpattern 1320 in the phase image of FIG. 13B is indicative of thelocation of the tip. The maps of FIGS. 14A, 14B are the result ofzooming into a 57-by-57 micron area (corresponding to the map of FIGS.13A, 13B) and re-centration of the map to position the concentricpattern 1320 closer to the center of the image. Using the indication,obtained from the pattern 1320, that the point-scatterer (the tip 122 ofthe probe) is not too far away from the focal plane of the beam 130A,the focus of the set-up100 was immediately adjusted, revealing a portion1510 of the Airy pattern corresponding to the scattering of incidentlight by the tip in FIG. 15A. FIGS. 16A and 16B show the amplitude andphase portions of the field map obtained with the signal demodulation atthe second harmonic of the probe-vibration frequency across the 30-by-30micron field, clearly demonstration a central lobe 1610A and theemerging firs order lobe 1610B of the amplitude Airy pattern.

Overall, according to the idea of the invention, a tip of an s-SNOMprobe is used to map the focal spot of the beam of light, purposelyfocused on the tip to provide optical data to the s-SNOM system duringfield-mapping procedure with spatial resolutions far exceeding thediffraction limit imposed by the wavelength of the incident light. Theproposed methodology shortens the time required for optical alignment ofthe near-field optical system from the currently-typical one hour toseveral minutes and shorter. Based on the empirical discovery that theoptical background accompanying the tip-illuminating light scattered bythe probe can have complicated spatial patterns that present multiplefalse local extrema of irradiance, the described investigationidentified a problem of erroneous optimization of the optical alignmentof the near-file optical system by targeting a false local optimum pointbased on optical data acquired in reliance on the fundamental harmonicof the frequency of operation of the cantilever probe of the system.This problem was solved by devising a specifically-defined process ofoptical field mapping, in which the processing and demodulation of dataat the 1^(st) harmonic can be further refined, when required, with thedata demodulation at 2^(nd), 3^(rd) or higher harmonic(s) tounambiguously identify tight-focal-spot (substantially, a point source)pattern representing at least a central lobe of Airy disk like patternsin the field maps and effectively reject the unwanted background. Thishas been effectuated with a near-field system that included a lightsource; an optical interferometer having a first arm; a repositionableoptical system; a near-field probe in optical communication with thelight source through said first arm and the repositionable opticalsystem; an optical detection unit configured to acquire lightrepresenting interferometric fringes at an output of the opticalinterferometer; and a programmable electronic circuitry operably coupledwith tangible, non-transitory storage medium containing program codethereon. This code, when loaded on the programmable electroniccircuitry, causes the circuitry to detect a spatial light patternobtained in light that has been delivered, through the optical system tothe probe and backscattered by the probe; and to reposition the opticalsystem to cause a focal spot of a beam of light, that has been deliveredto the probe through said optical system, spatially coincide with a tipof the probe such as to maximize an irradiance, of the spatial lightpattern, that is caused by a near-field optical wave produced only bythe tip in response to interaction thereof with the beam of light.

Corresponding computer program product (for use on a computer system forgoverning an optical alignment of a near-field optical system) includesa computer-readable tangible non-transitory medium on which are storedcomputer instructions such that, when the instructions are executed by aprocessor, the instructions cause the processor to:

a) acquire data representing a spatial light pattern interferometricallyformed with the use of a first light beam that has been converged,through an optical system of the near-field system, on a region ofinterest (ROI) including a tip of a cantilever probe of the near-fieldsystem, to form a converged light beam, and back-scattered by said ROIto an optical detection unit of the near-field system;

b) reposition an element of said optical system along a spatialtrajectory to define a target spatial coordination, between the opticalsystem and the ROI, wherein the target spatial coordination (i)represents a positioning of a focal spot of the light beam on the tip,and (ii) causes maximization of a far-field irradiance sensitive to anear-field optical wave at the ROI; and

c) form an image associated with a near-field optical wave generated bythe ROI in response to interaction thereof with the converged light beamand corresponding to a position along the spatial trajectory. Theinstructions further cause the processor to form the image that containsa feature, of the spatial light pattern, indicating that the targetspatial coordination has been achieved.

As a skilled artisan will readily appreciate, the proposed methodologycan be appropriately extended to facilitate the quantification of thesize of the focal spot by measuring the distance(s) from the globalmaximum of the irradiance distribution (corresponding to the Airy peak)to the first minimum of such distribution. The obtained result can becompared with the calculations based on the numerical aperture of thefocusing optics of the near-field system; an agreement or degree ofmatch between the measured and calculated values would indicate whetheran optimal, diffraction-limited focus spot has been reached. Appropriatecalibration of a mechanical-positioning unit enables the system toobtain valuable diagnostic information from detected patterns of lightscattered by the tip of the near-field probe, opening a door tocharacterization and comparison of the “s-SNOM-quality” of the probe.

Example 2: Embodiment of the Invention Employing a DSCD Methodology forChemical Characterization of a Sample

While the idea and implementations of the invention are describedthrough the above-described examples embodiments, it will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art that modifications to, andvariations of, the illustrated embodiments may be made without departingfrom the disclosed inventive concepts. For example, an embodiment of theinvention as described herein can be used in conjunction with or as partof any of the embodiments and methodologies structured fornanoidentification of sample properties, discussed in WO 2014/144496,the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Inparticular, embodiments of the present invention can be practiced with asystem that is configured to perform background suppression with the useof real time time-domain signal processing (instead of frequency domainlock-in amplification methods, conventionally used in related art) andthat is directed to nano-identification (nano-ID) of a sample, nano-IDmeasurements of sample properties, and, more particularly, to using anoptical antenna in an instrument providing optical characterization of asample with the use of evanescent waves, on a spatial scale below 50 nmor even below 20 nm.

Examples of the methodology of suppression of a background signalaccording to the so-called DSCD algorithm in context of determination ofa chemical characteristic of the sample under test were discussed in WO2014/144496, in reference to at least FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5, 6, 7A,6B, 7C, 8A, 8B, 8C, 9, and 10 thereof According to the idea of thedetermination of the chemical characteristic of the sample with the useof the DSCD algorithm, information about the complex-valued near-fieldcomponent E_(nf) is obtained from the output V_(det) of phase-sensitivedetector,V_(det)˜E_(ref)E_(nf) cos(φ_(ref)−φ_(nf))+E_(bg)E_(nf)cos(φ_(bg)−φ_(nf))+E_(ref)E_(bg) cos(φ_(ref)−φ_(bg))+E² _(ref)+E²_(nf)+E² _(bg)where E_(ref) is reference electromagnetic field, E_(bg) is a backgroundcomponents of the electromagnetic field, and φ_(bg), φ_(ref), φ_(nf) arecorresponding phases. Based on such information, the data representingthe frequency-dependent reflection coefficient r(k, ω) of the sample isprocured at the frequency or frequencies of light irradiating the tip.The imaginary part of E_(nf) is related to the imaginary part of thereflection coefficient Im{r(k, ω)} which can, in tum, be used to assessabsorption, Im{n(k, ω)}, of incident light by the sample. Thedetermination of a chemical characteristic of the sample is furthereffectuated by comparing the measured value of Im{n(k, ω)} to areference absorption spectrum from a database of results ofpreviously-carried-out measurements (for example, to an absorptionspectrum of a known material sample measured at time different from thetime of the measurement of the current sample under test).

The DCSD algorithm discussed in WO 2014/144496 and optionally used inconjunction with an embodiment of the present invention, is configuredto employ a principle of gating the separation distance between the tipof the AMF's probe and the sample, according to which only those datapoints are used from the interferometric information (acquired by thes-SNOM system from backscattering of light from the tip-sample region)that correspond to chosen phases of the repeated oscillation of theAFM's tip with respect to the surface of the sample under test. As such,the useful optical data is collected at the moments corresponding tosome distinct separation distance(s) z between the apex of thenanoantenna (AFM tip) and the sample surface (instead of being collectedcontinuously, for example) while, generally, without explicit knowledgeof what such separation distance(s) is. The rest of the data points,even if acquired, are excluded from the calculation. (In starkcontradistinction with the requirements of the pseudoheterodynemethodology, the acquisition of the interferometric informationaccording to the DSCD embodiment is carried with modulation of thesample-to-tip separation that does not have to be sinusoidal).

Accordingly, the measurement methodology according to an embodiment ofthe present invention may additionally include as least some of thesteps of the measurement procedure discussed in reference to paragraphs[0085] through [0095] and FIG. 6 of WO 2014/144496. For example, anembodiment of the method of the invention may include:

-   -   normalizing a portion of optical data (acquired from the        detected spatial pattern and representing electromagnetic field        caused by near-field interaction between the tip of the probe        and the surface of the sample during a motion of the tip above        the sample) by reference optical data that have been        interferometrically acquired in a process of backscattering by        the tip moving above a surface of a reference sample, to        determine at least one of real and imaginary parts of a        complex-valued difference between first and second values of the        electric field characterizing the near-field interaction, where        such first and second values respectively correspond to first        and second phases of the motion of the tip above the sample. In        the process of such normalization, a spectral distribution of at        least one of these real and imaginary parts can be determined to        identify a component of a complex-valued permittivity of the        sample. Optionally, the motion of the tip may include scanning a        surface of the sample within a scanning range, while the        reference sample is located outside of said scanning range        during the process of detection of the spatial light pattern;    -   moving a tip of the probe in a recurring motion above the sample        under test and negating a contribution of background        electromagnetic radiation into an optical signal (acquired by        the optical detector of the near-field system) by irradiating        the tip with light from a CW laser source and detecting such        optical signal only at the moments corresponding to a chosen        phase of the recurring motion. In addition or alternatively,        optical data extracted from the spatial light pattern detected        by the optical detector is being processed in time domain;    -   employing the beam of light including a plurality of wavelengths        while forming the spatial light pattern (to be detected by the        optical detector) by interfering two portions of the said beam        of light that has been backscattered. One of the portions is        delayed in phase with respect to another by an amount that is        being modulated and, in a specific case, such amount is being        continuously changed (in a reference arm of an interferometer of        the optical system of the near-field system) according to a        periodic function characterized by a modulation frequency.    -   suppressing a contribution of background electromagnetic        radiation to optical data acquired by the detector and        representing the near-field interaction between the tip and the        sample by determining acquiring such optical data at first,        second, third and fourth phases (of the motion of the tip above        the sample) as respective first, second, third, and fourth        values, and determining a difference between a sum of the first        and third values and a sum of the second and fourth values;    -   other steps of the DSCD-related optical data acquisition and        processing disclosed in WO 2014/144496.

An embodiment of the method for optical alignment of a near-fieldsystem, according to the idea of the invention, is illustrated in a flowchart of FIG. 17A. Here, at step 1710, a spatial light pattern (obtainedin light that has been delivered through an optical system of saidnear-field system to a probe of the near-field system and backscatteredby said probe) is detected. Such pattern may be collected in a beam oflight, which recombines a first portion of light irradiating the probeof the near-field system and that has been backscattered by the probewith a second portion of light irradiating the probe that is delayedwith respect to the first portion, and which is further converged onto asingle-pixel detector, for example. At step 1720, the optical system isbeing repositioned to cause a focal spot of a beam of light, which hasbeen delivered to the probe through said optical system, spatiallycoincide with a tip of the probe. Repositioning of the optical systemand optical detection of the pattern continues until an amplitude of aportion of the detected pattern is sensitive to a near-field opticalwave produced only by the tip in response to interaction thereof withsaid beam of light is maximized. The near-field system can be operablycooperated with a sample under test, and the process of maximization ofthe amplitude of the portion of the pattern (as detected by the opticaldetector) can, in one embodiment, be devoid of using optical data thatrepresents any of mechanical response, thermal expansion, andphoto-thermal response of the sample irradiated with said beam of light.The process of alignment of the system may be accompanies by the processof vibrating the tip at a chosen frequency above the surface of thesample under test, while the process of maximizing the amplitude of theportion of the detected pattern includes demodulating optical datarepresenting the spatial light pattern at a harmonic of the frequency ofthe tip vibration. In one implementation, the process may additionallyinclude a step of determination, from optical data representingirradiance of the spatial light pattern, a geometrical characteristic ofthe pattern defined with respect to a point of the pattern thatcorresponds to a maximum value of the irradiance and, in a specificembodiment, determining whether afocal spot of light on the tip isdiffraction limited based on comparison between the geometricalparameter with a geometrical value representing a diffraction limitedfocal spot. The step of repositioning may include changing at least oneof a position and an orientation of the optical system with respect tothe probe (while the tip is being vibrated at a chosen frequency) toform an image of a region of interest (ROI) irradiated with the beam.The ROI includes the tip, and the formed image contains at least acentral lobe of an Airy pattern. The optical data collected by anoptical detector from the pattern may be processed in time domain toextract a first portion of the data that represent electromagnetic fieldcaused by near-field interaction between the tip and a surface of thesample during a motion of the tip above the surface.

The method may further include a) normalizing the first portion of theoptical data collected by the detector by reference optical data (thathave been acquired with the near-field system in a process ofbackscattering of light by a tip moving above the surface of thereference sample) to determine at least one of real and imaginary patsof a complex-valued difference between first and second values ofelectric field characterizing said near-field interaction, wherein thefirst and second values respectively correspond to first and secondphases of the motion. The method may further include b) suppressing acontribution of background electromagnetic radiation to the firstportion to obtain a second portion of said data in which suchcontribution is reduced as compared to the first portion, wherein saidsuppressing includes determining the first portion at first, second,third, and fourth phases of the tip motion as respective first, second,third, and fourth values , and further determining a difference betweena sub of the first and third values and a sum of the second and fourthvalues. The motion may include a recurring motion, while the methodfurther contains a step of negating a contribution of backgroundelectromagnetic radiation in the first portion by irradiating the tipwith pulsed laser only at moments corresponding to a chosen phase of therecurring motion. In a specific case, such negating includes irradiatingthe tip only at the moments corresponding to a phase, of the recurringmotion, that has been chosen without knowledge of a separation distancebetween the tip and the surface of the sample. Alternatively or inaddition, the motion may include a recurring motion and the method mayinclude a process of negating a contribution of backgroundelectromagnetic radiation in the first portion by irradiating the tipwith light from a CW laser source, and detecting the spatial lightpattern only at moments corresponding to a chosen phase of the recurringmotion.

An embodiment of the method may additionally include processing datarepresenting a detected spatial light pattern to extract a first portionof the data that represent electromagnetic field caused by near-fieldinteraction between the tip and a surface of the sample during arecurring motion of the tip above the surface (the tip-irradiating lightincluding a plurality of wavelengths, wherein the step of detectionincludes acquiring the spatial light pattern by interfering two portionsof such light, one of which portions has been delayed in phase withrespect to another by an amount that is being modulated during theprocess of acquisition, the acquiring occurring only at momentscorresponding to a chosen phase of the recurring motion.

A related embodiment of the method of the invention is schematicallyillustrated in FIG. 17B. Here, step 1750 signifies acquiring, with anoptical detection unit of the near-field system, optical datarepresenting a spatial light pattern formed with the use of a firstlight beam that has been (i) converged, through an optical system of thenear-field system, on a region of interest (ROI) including a tip of acantilever probe of the near-field system, to form a converged lightbeam and (ii) back-scattered by the ROI. At step 1760, based on anoutput generated by the optical detection unit in response to saidacquiring, the optical system is being repositioned along a spatialtrajectory to achieve a target spatial coordination, between saidoptical system and said ROI. In a specific case, the process ofachieving said target spatial coordination includes (a) causing a focalspot of said first light beam to coincide with a tip of the near-fieldsystem, and (b) maximizing an amplitude of the spatial light pattern,wherein the amplitude is sensitive to a near-field optical wave producedonly by the tip in response to interaction thereof with the convergedlight beam. In one embodiment, the process of acquiring includesacquiring optical data representing the spatial light pattern that hasbeen formed by interfering two portions of the first light beam, one ofwhich portions has been delayed in phase with respect to another. Amethod further includes forming an image associated with the near-fieldoptical wave and corresponding to a position along the spatialtrajectory. Optionally, the formation of such image is accompanied byvibrating the tip of the probe at a chosen frequency and demodulation ofthe image data at a harmonic of such frequency, at 1770 and 1780. Thedetection of a feature of the image that indicates that the targetspatial coordination between said optical system and said ROI has beenachieved is performed at step 1790. Such feature of the image isindicative of a diffraction-limited characteristic of a converged beamof light irradiating the top of the probe. In a specific case, thenear-field system is operably cooperated with a sample under test whilethe process of achieving the target spatial coordination is devoid ofusing optical data representing any of mechanical response, thermalexpansion, thermal expansion, and photo-thermal response of the sampleirradiated with the converged light beam.

References throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “a related embodiment,” or similar language mean that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the referred to “embodiment” is included in at least one embodimentof the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in oneembodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout thisspecification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the sameembodiment. It is to be understood that no portion of disclosure, takenon its own and in possible connection with a figure, is intended toprovide a complete description of all features of the invention.

In addition, it is to be understood that no single drawing is intendedto support a complete description of all features of the invention. Inother words, a given drawing is generally descriptive of only some, andgenerally not all, features of the invention. A given drawing and anassociated portion of the disclosure containing a descriptionreferencing such drawing do not, generally, contain all elements of aparticular view or all features that can be presented is this view, forpurposes of simplifying the given drawing and discussion, and to directthe discussion to particular elements that are featured in this drawing.A skilled artisan will recognize that the invention may possibly bepracticed without one or more of the specific features, elements,components, structures, details, or characteristics, or with the use ofother methods, components, materials, and so forth. Therefore, althougha particular detail of an embodiment of the invention may not benecessarily shown in each and every drawing describing such embodiment,the presence of this detail in the drawing may be implied unless thecontext of the description requires otherwise. In other instances, wellknown structures, details, materials, or operations may be not shown ina given drawing or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of anembodiment of the invention that are being discussed. Furthermore, thedescribed single features, structures, or characteristics of theinvention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more furtherembodiments.

Embodiments of the invention—both system and methods—have been describedas employing a processor controlled by instructions stored in a memory.The memory may be random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),flash memory or any other memory, or combination thereof, suitable forstoring control software or other instructions and data. Some of thefunctions performed by the circuitry unit 142 and/or AFM controlcircuitry 114 have been described with reference to flowcharts and/orblock diagrams. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate thatfunctions, operations, and/or decisions of all or a portion of eachblock, or a combination of blocks, of the flowcharts or block diagramsmay be implemented as computer program instructions, software, hardware,firmware or combinations thereof. Those skilled in the art should alsoreadily appreciate that instructions or programs defining the functionsof the present invention may be delivered to a processor in many forms,including, but not limited to, information permanently stored onnon-writable storage media (e.g. read-only memory devices within acomputer, such as ROM, or devices readable by a computer I/O attachment,such as CD-ROM or DVD disks), information alterably stored on writablestorage media (e.g. floppy disks, removable flash memory and harddrives) or information conveyed to a computer through communicationmedia, including wired or wireless computer networks. While theinvention may be embodied in software, the functions necessary toimplement the invention may optionally or alternatively be embodied inpart or in whole using firmware and/or hardware components, such ascombinatorial logic, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs),Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other hardware or somecombination of hardware, software and/or firmware components.

Disclosed aspects, or portions of these aspects, may be combined in waysnot listed above. Accordingly, the implementation(s) of the inventionshould not be viewed as being limited to the disclosed embodiment(s).

What is claimed is:
 1. A near-field system comprising: a light source; an optical interferometer having a sample arm and a reference arm; a repositionable optical system; a near-field probe in optical communication with the light source through said sample arm and the repositionable optical system, an optical detection circuitry including an optical detector configured to acquire light representing interferometric fringes at an output of the optical interferometer, a programmable electronic circuitry, and a computer program product comprising a computer-readable tangible, non-transitory storage medium containing program code thereon which, when loaded on the programmable electronic circuitry, causes the programmable electronic circuitry to acquire data representing a spatial light pattern interferometrically formed with the use of a first light beam that has been (i) converged, through the repositionable optical system of the near-field system, on a region of interest (ROI) including a tip of a cantilever probe of the near-field system, to form a converged light beam, and (ii) back-scattered by said ROI to the optical detection circuitry of the near-field system; and to reposition the repositionable optical system to cause a focal spot of a beam of light, that has been delivered to the probe through said optical system, to maximize an irradiance, of the spatial light pattern, that is caused by a near-field optical wave produced only by the tip in response to interaction thereof with the beam of light and that is acquired by the optical detector.
 2. The near-filed system according to claim 1, wherein said program code causes the programmable electronic circuitry to maximize the irradiance without using optical data that represent any of mechanical response, thermal expansion, and photo-thermal response of a sample under test located in the vicinity of the tip during operation of the near-field system.
 3. The near-field system according to claim 1, wherein said program code is further configured to cause the programmable electronic circuitry to vibrate the tip at a chosen frequency above a surface of a sample under test, and to maximize the irradiance by demodulating optical data representing said spatial light pattern at a harmonic of the chosen frequency.
 4. The near-field system according to claim 1, wherein said program code is further configured to cause the programmable electronic circuitry to determine, from optical data representing the irradiance of said spatial light pattern, a geometrical characteristic of the spatial light pattern defined with respect to a point, of the spatial light pattern, that corresponds to a maximum value of said irradiance.
 5. The near-field system according to claim 4, wherein said program code is further configured to cause the programmable electronic circuitry to determine whether said focal spot is diffraction-limited, based on comparison between the geometrical characteristic and a geometrical value representing a diffraction-limited focal spot.
 6. The near-field system according to claim 5, wherein said image contains at least a central lobe of an Airy pattern.
 7. The near-field system according to claim 1, wherein said program code is further configured to cause the programmable electronic circuitry to reposition an element of said optical system along a spatial trajectory to define a target spatial coordination, between said optical system and said ROI, wherein the target spatial coordination (i) represents a positioning of the focal spot of said beam of light on the tip, and (ii) causes maximization of a far-field irradiance sensitive to a near-field optical wave at the ROI; and to form an image associated with a near-field optical wave generated by said ROI in response to interaction thereof with said converged light beam and corresponding to a position along said spatial trajectory.
 8. The near-field system according to claim 1, wherein the optical detector is single-area detector.
 9. The near-field system according to claim 1, further structured to utilize the same first beam to acquire, in absence of a beam of visible light in the near-field system, both first optical data representative of a degree of alignment of the first beam with respect to the tip, and second optical data representative of a change in spatial positioning of the probe with respect to a sample under test in the near-field system.
 10. A method for optical alignment of a near-field system, the method comprising: reiteratively repositioning an optical system of the near-field system to cause a focal spot of a first beam of light, that has been delivered to the probe through an arm of an optical interferometer and said optical system, to spatially coincide with a tip of a probe of the near-field system; and at each of positions, assumed by the optical system in a process of said relative repositioning, detecting, with an optical detection circuitry that includes a single-area optical detector, a corresponding optical signal generated by the single-area detector in response to a corresponding irradiance distribution that has been formed on said detector by converging a second beam of light with the use of an optically-focusing element, wherein the irradiance distribution represents a spatial light pattern formed with the use of the second beam of light, wherein the second beam of light includes light, from the first beam of light, that has been backscattered by the probe; forming a distribution of irradiance values, represented by optical signals acquired during said detecting at each of relative positions, as a function of at least one of position and orientation of the optical system with respect to the probe, wherein the irradiance values represent a degree of confinement of the first beam of light on the tip of the probe; and determining a maximum irradiance value, of said distribution of irradiance values, that corresponds to a target position of the optical system with respect to the tip, said maximum irradiance value representing a near-field optical wave produced only by the tip in response to interaction thereof with said first beam of light.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said detecting includes detecting the optical signal generated by the single-area detector in response to the spatial light pattern formed by converging the second beam of light with the use of the optically-focussing element that is optically separated from the tip of the probe by said arm of the optical interferometer.
 12. A method according to claim 10, further comprising at least one of (i) operably cooperating a sample under test with the near-field system, wherein said determining is devoid of using optical data representing any of mechanical response, thermal expansion, and photo-thermal response of the sample under test irradiated with said beam of light; (ii) vibrating the tip at a chosen frequency above a surface of the sample under test, wherein said determining includes demodulating optical data representing said spatial light pattern at a harmonic of said chosen frequency; and (iii) determining, from optical data of said spatial pattern, a geometrical characteristic of said spatial pattern defined with respect to a point, of said spatial pattern, that corresponds to the maximum irradiance value.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the demodulating includes demodulating optical data representing said spatial pattern at the harmonic of the chosen frequency that differs from the chosen frequency.
 14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising determining whether the focal spot is diffraction-limited by comparing the geometrical characteristic with a geometrical value representing a diffraction-limited focal spot.
 15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the reiteratively repositioning includes based on the optical signal, repositioning said optical system along a spatial trajectory to achieve a target spatial coordination between said optical system and said probe, wherein achieving said target spatial coordination includes causing the focal spot of said first light beam to irradiate only the tip of the probe, and wherein the second beam of light includes light, from the first beam of light, that has been backscattered only by said tip of the probe.
 16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the reiteratively repositioning includes changing at least one of a position and an orientation of said optical system with respect to the probe, while the tip is being vibrated at a chosen frequency, to form an image of a region of interest irradiated with said first beam of light, wherein the region of interest includes the tip, wherein the image contains at least a central lobe of an Airy pattern.
 17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising processing data, which represent optical signals generated by the single-area detector for the positions of the optical system, in time domain to extract a first portion of the data that represent electromagnetic field caused by near-field interaction between the tip and a surface of the sample under test during a motion of a tip above the surface.
 18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: normalizing the first portion of the data by reference optical data to determine at least one of real and imaginary pats of a complex-valued difference between first and second values of electric field characterizing said near-field interaction, wherein the reference optical data have been acquired with the near-field system in a process of backscattering of said first beam of light by the tip moving above the surface of a reference sample, and wherein the first and second values respectively correspond to first and second phases of the motion. 